How to Write a Detective Story

1. Time period and locale: The setting of my story is a present day suburban high school. My selection is based on the adage 'write about what you know' as suggested by Marilisa Sachtelben in her detective story list. Also, a high school has many rooms, closets, and hallways ideal for chases, mystery, etc.

2. Develop a detective: My detective is a fifteen-year-old girl. She wears a baseball cap and her ponytail sticks out the opening in the back. She wears skirts over jeans with sweaters. Instead of a backpack or purse she carries a side bag, sort of like a saddle bag. In a sense, I want her to be an updated version of Nancy Drew, except more realistic. Nancy Drew walked around solving mysteries in high heels, but Charlotte Chivington will solve them in a tattered pair of Converse All-Stars. Charlotte definetly has a dog that helps her solve mysteries, and her only other true friend is a nerdy tuba player from the marching band named Nathan.

3. Outline the crime: The scenario here is not so much a crime as a mystery. The beloved English teacher, Miss Nancy, has gone missing, and she has never been absent before. The students are overjoyed on their first day of having a substitute, but Charlotte grows concerned when she asks the sub for a pen. When the sub opens Miss Nancy's desk, it is completely empty.

4. Include some clues: The clues will be a note in the wastepaper basket asking Miss Nancy to arrange a meeting with the principal in the main office.

5. Identifty the MMO: The motive is that Miss Nancy is a smart, funny, young, and intelligent professional with whom the male faculty all want to secure a date. But for the principal, a particular motivation is that Miss Nancy reminds him of his lost high school sweetheart. The method is the meeting in the principal's office, where it is easy for the principal to knock Miss Nancy out with a paperweight in order to transport her and keep her prisoner. The opportunity is that the meeting takes place after school hours on a Friday when no clubs meet and most of the school is at a hockey game.

6. Identify the alibis of the suspects: Charlotte and Nathan are at the hockey game along with many of their classmates because Charlotte's older brother is on the team. This rules out every stereotypical jock who was angry at Miss Nancy over grades, because they are all at the game, too. It rules out all of the teachers, as well, who came to support her, except a sinister chemistry teacher who is a prime suspect. He is ruled out when the students discover that he surprisingly has a girlfriend, and Charlotte's brother who works at the movie theatre rewinds the security camera to see the chem teacher walking into the movies with his date on Friday afternoon.

7. Provide a climax: Once the detectives know too much, Nathan discovers a note in his tuba case that his instrument is being held for ransom. He goes without Charlotte, and the principal nabs him. Charlotte is meanwhile looking for him all over the halls, in and out of every room. She has her brother bring a dirty shirt from Nathan's laundry as well as the family dog. The dog sniffs out the building and manages to find Nathan and the principal holding him captive. There is a chase scene involving the characters.

8. Write your denouement: During the chase, the principal opens a store closet in order to hide from Charlotte and Nathan. Charlotte's dog manages to steal the keys, and the children lock him in the closet keeping him hostage. They take the keys, searching the school, until they find Miss Nancy locked in the old weight room in the basement.

9. Summarize with a short conclusion: Charlotte, Nathan, Miss Nancy, and Charlotte's brother go out to a diner to celebrate the victory. They decide to leave the principal in the closet for a few more hours to teach him a lesson and are going to contact the police to report the occurrence when the dog starts barking outside where he is tied up. Charlotte rises from her seat and uses a catchphrase that she would use in every episode. Something like, "Here we go again!" suggesting that there is yet another crime occurring, waiting for Charlotte's attention.